Heavy-duty shipping container



Sept. 23, 1952 w. c. EoRGE HEAVY-DUTY SHIPPING CONTAINER Filed Oct. 20, 1950 2 SHEETS-SHEET 1 INVENTOR. WALTER C. GEORGE wfw,

ATTORNEYS.

Sept. 23, 1952 w. c. GEORGE HEAVY-DUTY SHIPPING CONTAINER 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2 Filed Oct. 20, 1950 mm F l |I\.,H

INVENTOR. WALTER C. GEORGE m zfmv w,

ATTORNEYS.

Patented Sept. 23, 1952 UNITED STATES rew-Burr smirmcc mmm 4 Walter GkGeorge, St. Louis, Mo; assigngr tofiay 4 lord oz ta --flo mra ou S t- L uis MO a: I M

corporationof- Maryland I Application onstage, 1950, seem ng. 191,289? a V 1 The invention relates to. relatively tall. heavy!- duty shipping containers especially adapted to meet the special problem of packing, transporting; and unpacking fragile articles such as rayQ yarnwimnd o'n cones. 1 i

' The packing and shipping of cone wound yarn such asviscose rayon, cellulose acetate filament. and" other artificial filam'ent yarn presents a dif.-.- ficult practical problem due to the extremely fragile nature of the yarn. It is the practiceof the yarn industry to wind the yarn in the form of cones on tapered cores, wrap the cones and then-pack them in paperboard holders, stacking; the holders-in relatively tall master shipping cone talners. The cores of'the cones have a relatively large base and a small apex or-button project ing beyond the wound yarn for the purpose of. anchoring'the cones vertically in top and bot-.- tomopenings in the holders. The base of the core has an opening to receive the button of the subjace'nt core so that in stacking the holders in the master container each cone is aligned with and anchored to a subiacent and an overlying cone. The cone holders are usually packed. in layers eighthigh in a master container designed to holdfrom- 96 to 128- wound cones weighing from'350- to 500' pounds oreven more.

Since the stacks of holders are quite high, usuallyof the order of 50. inches, the master con: tainer of necessity is relatively tall compared with its other dimensions, making it di'fficult and time consuming to pack them in the lower portions and align and anchor the cones in proper position without damaging the yarn.

From the foregoing it will be apparent that the major problems are those of protecting the fragile yarnandproviding a master container sumciente ly st'rong' to transport the relatively heavy contents without damage and at the'same time to provide an easy and convenient means for loading the cone holders.

- Prior art practices attempt to solve these prob? lems'by providing a full telescopic type container consisting of an inner liner and top and bottom telescoping covers abutting approximately midway the height of the container. The liner of the container is generally coextensive'in length with the height and is usually provided with an access opening which may be a hinged door in one of the walls of the liner extending from the top of the liner to about one-half the length thereof. The container is loaded by inserting the liner into the lower half of the telescopic cover so that the lower edge of the access opening or the hinged door; as the'case may be, is adjacent to and usually a few inches above the upperedge; ofjthe lower half of the telescopic-cover. This constructionv makes. it necessary o h opera or: toreachdownwardly-through at least one hali theheightj'o'f the container to pack thelowermost' layers of cone holders. The reach thus .impose'disxusually-of theqorder of 2 5: inches. Due to the fragilenature of the cones, large-number Qiholqf ersgi-and the requirement that each'conemust be anchored in a subjjacent'cone as thestacking mogresses, this-style of container imposes an inconvenient and time consuming problem inprope; er v a dafe y packin h lo er la e s 0. 20 51: ers. r one-o th p pal obJeCt of e re ent nevention is to provide in a master container ofthe type described, free and unobstructed accesswto. the lower portion cf-thebody, thereby permitting articles to be packed carefully, easily, andponvenientiy onand near the bottomof th tainer. v 'Anotherobject is to provide a master shipp ng container: of the class described Which-may be readily assembled and ref-used forseveral suc ietasive trips iromthe point of o n to themes" A? further-object is-to--;p rovide a fully collapsible master shippin container especially for packing and transporting filament yarn wound on coneswhich may lie-shipped from the manufacturer-to t e user in knocked ,si wn o m r uir n no stitching 'oherations on the part-0f the-userand ic be a sembl d .cen e en l quick y,- andeconomically.- 1 l I Another object of the invention is to providea master container of the classdespribed-having twojpiies. of paperboard and flush exteriorfaces throughouhthe inner ply being provided with an access opening or door of a size that permits :con-' venient packing of the entire-container and which is completely enclosed by, av sleeve which is snugly elescoped thereover after or near the-completion fJthe packing operation. 1 Y

Still another object of the invention is-to pro]? vide' a heavy duty multi-trip'master container of the: required strength, rigidity: and durability for transporting. the lading' for which -it:is "desi 'nfidi wherein the component parts maybe constructed of the most economical combinations ofweight and strength of boardmaterials, Other objects and advantages of this -invention will be. apparent to those skilledv in-thexart upon; a. full and. complete .understandi-ng' of :the construction and operation of this device. y

The invent-ion provides a rel e yta lzshinm ping container with flush exterior faces through out comprising a rectangular body section with an access opening in a wall thereof, the body section being closed at both ends with caps having flanges paralleling and enclosing the end portions of the walls of the body section, an outer reinforcing collapsible open ended sleeve snugly paralleling, contacting and completely enclosing the body section walls between said cap flanges, the free ends of said sleeve being in edgewise abutment with the free ends of the cap flanges.

The invention consists in a construction which dispenses with an inner liner and permits the access opening or hinged door in the body section to extend downwardly adjacent to the bottom of the container so that the operator is required to reach only a few inches over the lower edge of the access opening to, properly and carefully position the lower rows of the holders and align and anchor the cones in each holder with those of the subjacent and overlying holders. This downward extension of the access opening cannot be made with the conventional container comprising an inner liner wi h telescoping half covers.

Furthermore, the present design provides a completely collapsible container. The components thereof are completely prefabricated and shipped knocked down by the box manufacturer so that the assembly of the container by the user involves only the erection of the collapsible parts.

In addition, the container is well adapted for multiple trip use; upon unloading, the component parts may be readily collapsed, returned to the loading point knocked down, and re-assembled for the succeeding trips. This is an important practical feature which is not inherent in the conventional stitched, non-collapsible styles of containers of the class described.

-The invention is shown embodied in a shipping container comprising a tubular open ended upright rectangular body section with an access door therein, flanged closure caps closing the adjacent ends of the body section and a reinforcing sleeve enclosing the portion of the body section between the flanges of the closure caps. Briefly, the body section of applicants container is provided with a vertically hinged door cut in one of the body walls. The opening is bounded on the bottom edge by a horizontal slit extending across the face of a wall, and on one side by a vertical slit extending upwardly from the horizontal slit to the top edge of the body and on the otherside by an adjacent wall corner. In a preferred form, the door is hinged at one corner of the wall and the vertical slit on the free edge of the door is at the adjacent corner.

In a modified form of the invention a vertical slit may be positioned substantially midway between the corners of a wall of the body section, connecting with a horizontal slit to form substantially counterpart, vertical, outwardly opening doors hinged at the vertical corners. This modification preserves the integral unbroken structure of the corner above the horizontal slit.

A telescoping sleeve fits snugly over the body member completely spanning and enclosing the access door therein including the remaining portions of the body member between the upper and lower cap flanges. The sleeve is of such length that the upper and lower free edges thereof abut the edges of the upper and lower closure cap flanges respectively, thus providing the container with uniform flush exterior faces throughout.

The invention also consists in the parts, arrangements and combinations of parts hereinafter described and claimed. In the accompanying drawings which form part of this specification and wherein like numerals refer to like parts wherever they occur:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the assembled container with a binding strap attached,

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the body section of the container showing the hinged 'door partially open with the position of the telescoping sleeve indicated in broken lines,

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the container with the upper and lower flanged closure caps detached from the' body section,

Fig. 4 is a plan view of the body section blank,

Fig. 5 is a-plan View of one of the flanged closure caps;

Fig. 6 is a pla n view of a modified body section blank,

Fig. 7 is a perspective view of the body section similar to Fig. 2 showing doors of the modified form closed with the position of -the telescoping sleeve indicated in broken lines. I

In Figs. 1 through 5 of the accompanying drawings, my invention is shown embodied in a relatively tall, heavy-duty shipping container comprising an open ended body section I with a sleeve 2 telescoped over the intermediate portion thereof, and flanged closure caps 3 and 4 for closing the ends of said body section I a The body section I- comprises a four-sided tubular body made by folding a blanki along scorelines 6, l, and 8 disposed between and parallel with the two opposite ends thereof to form walls 3, H], II, and i2. The lower portions of the two opposite ends of said blank 5, or the lowerportions of the free upstanding edges of the walls 9 and 12 are secured preferably by means of an adhesive strip [3. The walls 9, l0, and 12 are provided, with closure flaps l4, l5, l6, and H which depend from the lower edges thereof and which are defined by score lines I8, I9, 20, and 2i, respectively. This cons ruction provides an inner reinforcement to the bottom flanged cap.

Obviously, the closure flaps are optional features,

of convenience which can be omitted.

.The upper portions of the upstanding free. edges of the walls 9 and I2 are preferably not secured, and the wall I 2 is provided with a slit 22 to define the lower edge of an access door 23. which hinges and is free to pivot along the vertical score line 8.

.The closure caps 3 and 4 are formed from a blank 24 wherein scores 25, 26, 21, and 28 define a closure panel 29 and depending flanges 30, 3|, 32, and 33. The closure cap 3 is assembled by folding the flanges upwardly along the scores hereinbefore mentioned to form a rectangular cap for the body section i. The blank 24 is-provided withslits 34 and 35 which define tabs 36 and 31 which are folded over and attached to the flanges 30 and 32 by staples or other suitable means. The flanges 3| and 33 are provided with diagonal scores 38 and 39 to permit collapsing the assembled caps in fiatwise form for shipping to the user.

The telescoping sleeve 2 is formed from a rectangular blank (not shown) by folding along three appropriate score lines disposed between and parallel with the two opposite ends thereof and securing said ends together through the length of the corner formed thereby, preferably by means of an adhesive strip 40 thereby forming a rectangular tube similar in shape to the body section 1 and with inside dimensions such.

as to give it a snug fit when telescoped. over said body section: abuttingan interior adjacent portion orthe'base of thev caps, the endwedges of the sleeve and the edges of the cap flanges being in direct abutting and aligned relationship and in the same plane, the integral cap flange consisting of associated opposed pairs of individual flanges oi similar shape and width with unobstructed smooth inner surfaces for engagement with the exposed outer face portions ofthe body section, an integral flap extension from the corners of an opposed pair of flanges with the flaps in contacting relationship with and of substantially the width of adjacent exterior portions of the other opposed pair of flanges, the free end edges of the flaps being spaced from each other to provide a groove therebetween, in which groove a portion of a retaining band that surrounds the container may be disposed, and opposed exterior surfaces of the walls of the sleeve REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent;

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date;

655,019 'Schmidt July'31, 1900 1,911,339 Andrews May 30, 1933 2,004,501 Curtis July 11, 1935 15 2,349,088 I Guyer May 16,1944 2,447,677 Williams Aug. 24, 1948 2,567,786 Rosenberg Sept. 11, 1951 2,569,035

Belsinger Sept. 25, 1951 

